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Juan Carlos

The corn is ours, our harvest and the name is really clear: “MAIS”: “Movimiento Indígena Alternativo y Social” (Alternative and Social Indigenous Movement). Is what I have always said: this movement is not only for indigenous people but for every social field and everything it involves: afro-americans, peasants, Yanaconas (indigenous people). Because it has been clear for a long time: if we are not united, next wars are not going to be for land but for water, that’s why we need to be united.

At first I didn’t understand what it means to be an indigenous person. Now I understand it, and I have beeing teaching this meaning to my son. He gets it, he is just three years old but his memory is very developed.

The indigenous movement is not just for indigenous people. It is for all kinds of persons: afro, peasants, mestizos… In the end, we are all indigenous, even of we have different skin or eye color we are equal. We were all mixed in the Spanish conquest, nobody is pure, we were all mixed between different indigenous groups, and with whites and afros. That is why we are all indigenous, and our home is everyone’s home.

I went to the Cauca region to prepare myself in things I didn’t know really well. Then I came to Cali with a main objective: make the indigenous guard stronger. But at the same time I tried to better understand the needs of Cali’s indigenous community.

Here we have in first place we have the CRIC flag. After that, we have the ponchos that make us warm in both physical and spiritual ways beacuse they work as shields against bad energy. Those are our hats, they are tipical and cover us from the heat, they also work against bad ideas that come from the outside. Finally, we have the indiginous batons that represent the historical resistance of our people.

The corn is ours, our harvest and the name is really clear: “MAIS”: “Movimiento Indígena Alternativo y Social” (Alternative and Social Indigenous Movement). Is what I have always said: this movement is not only for indigenous people but for every social field and everything it involves: afroamericans, peasants, Yanaconas (indigenous people).